Rotating plural source apparatus for dispensing articles sequentially



y 1963 H. s. BUTTERWORTH 3,390,811 ROTATING PLURAL SOURCE APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING ARTICLES SEQUENTIALLY Filed Oct. 4, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 y 6 H. s. BUTTERWORTH 3,39

ROTATING PLURAL SOURCE APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING ARTICLES SEQUENTIALLY Filed Oct. 4, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 y 1968 H. s. BUTTERWORTH 3,390,811

ROTATING PLURAL SOURCE APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING ARTICLES SEQUENTIALLY' Filed Oct. 4, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 .nyld/l/l/lrllllli ggg ii I 20 y 2. 1968 H. s. BUTTERWORTH 3,390,811

ROTATING PLURAL SOURCE APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING ARTICLES SEQUENTIALLY Filed on. 4. 1966 4 Sheets- Sheet 4 United States Patent 3,390,811 ROTATING PLURAL SOURCE APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING ARTICLES SEQUENTIALLY Harry S. Butterworth, Beverly, Mass., assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N.Y.,

a corporation of New York Filed Oct. 4, 1966, Ser. No. 584,266 3 Claims. (Cl. 221-113) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A magazine includes a plurality of trackways circumferentially arrayed about and supported by a wheel-like plate which is rotated to orbit the trackways about a stationary cylinder having a helical groove therein. A plunger advancing plate is mounted for rotation with the trackways and axial movement along the trackways, with a follower on the advancing plate engaging the helical groove in the stationary cylinder. Plungers are spring-mounted on the advancing plate, each plunger contacting an endmost article in an associated trackway. Each plunger ejects an article through an exit opening in a supporting frame as the associated trackway is orbited into alignment with the opening.

This invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing articles and more particularly to a rotary magazine in which a plurality of trackways are arrayed and orbited about a central axis and wherein articles are urged with a constant force and are successively dispensed from each trackway in an axial direction as the trackways are orbited about the central axis.

In the handling of small articles such as transformer coil assemblies, it is desirable to make use of a simple, compact and efficient magazine apparatus for successively dispensing articles which are to be received at successive nests in a turntable or other receiving apparatus. In order that each article be dispensed with the same force, the articles must be constantly urged to advance toward a magazine exit station as previously advanced articles are dispensed therefrom to the receiving turntable. Such a magazine should be easy to load, thus the urging mechanism should be easily removable for insertion of articles into the magazine. The dispensing magazine and receiving turntable must operate in a synchronized manner to assure the delivery of a single article to each of the nests in the turntable.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved apparatus for dispensing articles.

Another object of the invention resides in rotary magazines in which an urging mechanism biases the articles toward an exit position and wherein the urging mechanism maintains a substantially constant bias on the articles.

It is another object of the invention to provide a new and improved rotary magazine assembly wherein articles are continually urged along axial trackways in the magazine by a mechanism which advances axially with rotation of the magazine, an article being dispensed from an end of each trackway as rotation of the magazine brings the end of the trackway to an exit position.

It is also an object of the invention to provide with such apparatus an assembly having receiving nests therein and to synchronize the operation of the mechanisms to successively dispense articles to the exit position as receiving nests are brought adjacent a receiving station located substantially at the exit position, the urging mechanism delivering an article to each receiving nest.

With these and other objects in view, the invention contemplates a rotary magazine assembly having a plurality of parallel article receiving trackways arrayed and orbited 3,390,811 Patented July 2, 1968 about a central axis to successively dispense the article with a substantially constant force. A stationary cylinder, located along the central axis, has a helical cam groove cut into its surface. A plate, which is rotatable with the trackways, mounts a cam follower which is located in the groove. The cam follower advances the plate by riding in the groove during rotation of the magazine. A plurality of spring-loaded plungers are mounted on the plate, each entering a trackway to urge the articles therein forward and continuing to do so as the plate is advanced. An article is dispensed from an end of each trackway as the trackway ends are successively rotated to a receiving station, adjacent to which a receiving assembly, having plural receiving nests therein, is positioned. The assemblies operate in synchronized fashion, so that each nest receives an article at the receiving station as it is dispensed thereto from a trackway of the rotary magazine assembly.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying-drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view, with parts broken away along the line 1--1 of FIG. 4, showing an apparatus for dispensing articles in accordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial plan view of a plunger advancing plate used in the dispensing apparatus; 5

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view, with parts broken away, showing the apparatus with several articles in one of several trackways of the apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view, taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3, showing the arrangement of the trackways;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the plunger advancing plate showing a plurality of plunger assemblies which are carried by the plate;

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view of one of the plunger assemblies, showing the details thereof;

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of a supporting assembly used in the apparatus, showing an axle with a bayonet slot therein, and a grooved cylinder with the pin therethrough fitting into the bayonet slot in the axle;

FIG. 8 is an end view of the axle showing the bayonet slot and the manner of inserting the pin therein;

FIG. 9 is a top view, partly in section and with parts broken away, similar to FIG. 1, illustrating the dispensing of an article; and

FIG. 10 is a side elevational view, partly in section and with parts broken away, similar to FIG. 3, further illustrating the dispensing of an article.

Referring first to FIG. 1, there are shown an article dispensing mechanism 11 and a portion of an article receiving mechanism 12. The apparatus is used to feed articles, such as transformer coil assemblies 13 (seealso FIGS. 3 and 4), into a plurality of nests 14 (FIG. 1) in the article receiver 12. Each transformer coil assembly 13 has a plurality of tabs 7 extending upwardly therefrom. A plurality of terminals *8 are mounted in a terminal base 9 to extend downwardly from the assembly 13.

The article dispensing mechanism 11 has as its main element a horizontal rotary magazine or carriage assembly 16 which carries a plurality of parallel trackways or article containers 17 in which the articles 13 may be contained. Each trackway is defined by a pair of radially spaced tracks, such as an outer track 17A and an inner track 17B (FIGS. 1, 4). The trackways are arraye'dat equal radial distances from a common central axis 18, being located at equiangularly spaced positions thereabout. The tracks 17A and 17B are positioned so that each article 13 may be retained therebet-ween by tabs 7 on each side of track 17A and by terminals 8 and a part of base 9 on each side of track 17B. Thus, the articles will be retained between the tracks as they are displaced axially along the trackways 17. The outer peripheries of the outer tracks 17A are joined to a rim portion 19R of a wheel-like plate 19 (FIGS. 1, 3, 4) at the forward ends of the trackways and to an annular rim 21 at the rearward ends. The inner peripheries of the inner tracks 17B are also joined at the forward ends thereof to the plate 19 at a hub portion 19H thereof (FIG. 3). The hub 19H and the rim 19R of the wheel-like plate 19 are interconnected by a plurality of spokes 19S.

. A stationary frame 22 supports the wheel plate 19 for rotation therein about the central common axis 1 8, the entire rotary magazine assembly 16 rotating with the wheel plate. A supporting axle 23 having a bayonet slot 15 (see also FIGS. 7 and 8) at a rearward end thereof, projects from a bearing surface 22S of the stationary frame 22. The axle 23 passes horizontally through the wheel plate 19 along the central axis 18 and into a central bore 20 through a cylinder 24. A pin 15 passes through the cylinder 24 and across the bore 20. The cylinder is releasably secured to the axle 23 by the pin 15' being placed into the bayonet slot 15, moved axially therein, and twisted in the direction of the arrow 15". The cylinder 24 is, thus, nonrotata'bly mounted on the central axis 18 until the pin 15' is turned clockwise and removed from the bayonet slot. A helical groove 26, in the form of a lead screw groove or thread, is cut into the surface of the cylinder 24 and extends axially therealong. Adjacent the wheel plate 19 at a forward end of the cylinder 24, the groove terminates in a nonhelical dwell portion 25 equal in depth to the groove 26. A short, axially extending lead slot 25' is located at a rearward end of the cylinder 24 and leads into the groove 26. A pair of spring loaded, locking plungers 30 and 30' extend outwardly from opposite sides of the cylinder adjacent the leads slot 25'.

A dispenser assembly 27 is removably mountable on the rotary magazine assembly 16. A plunger advancing plate 28 has a central bore 29 (see FIG. 2) therethrough, the bore having an inner diameter greater than the outer diameter of the stationary cylinder 24. Mounted on the plate 28 and extending into the bore 29 is a roller-type cam follower 31. The cam follower fits into the helical groove 26 in the stationary cylinder 24 to follow the groove as the plate 2 8 is rotated about the axis 18. The groove 26 acts as a camming groove to advance the follower 31 and the plunger advancing plate 28 forward toward the article receiving mechanism 12. The lead slot 25' permits insertion of the cam follower 31 into the groove 26, while the locking plungers 30 and 30 prevent rearward escape of the plate 28 off of the cylinder. The plate 28 has a beveled surface 40 for initially contacting the locking plungers 30 and 30' during the mount ing of the plate on the cylinder 24.

Several pairs of rollers 32 (FIGS. 1, 2, are equiangularly spaced to project from the periphery of the plate 28. The rollers of each pair are mounted on stud shafts 35 and 35 and are spaced from each other by a narrow gap 33. Each pair of rollers is positioned to span an outer track, such as the track 17A (FIGS. 1 and 2), of a trackway of the rotary magazine assembly 16, the outer track entering into the gap between the pair of rollers. The plunger advancing plate 28 may thus be rotated by rotation of the magazine assembly 16, the rotation causing the plate to advance as the cam follower 31 follows the helical groove 26 in the stationary cylinder 24 and the pairs of rollers move along the outer tracks.

The plunger advancing plate 28 has located therethrough a plurality of plunger assembly bores, such as bores 34, 34' and 34" (FIG. 2). The bores are equal in number to the number of trackways and have their centers equiangularly spaced at a radial distance from a center 18' of the bore 29 which is equal to the radial spacing of the trackway centers from the central axis 18. There is a plunger assembly bore, such as bores 34 and 4 34, in radial alignment with each gap 33 between pairs of rollers 32.

Secured in each of the plunger assembly bores is a plunger assembly of the type shown in FIG. 6 and identified by the numeral 36. A plunger or pusher 37, having a rounded forward end 37A, is reciprocably mounted in a supporting sleeve 38. A stop, such as restricted portion 39 of the sleeve 38, prevents the plunger 37 from escaping from the sleeve. The plunger is biased toward the restricted portion by a compression spring 41. An adjustable set screw 42 may form the end of the sleeve 38 opposite the restricted portion 39. Each plunger is thus urged toward an article 13 in an associated trackway 17 (see FIGS. 1 and 3) by a compression spring 41 (FIG. 6) when the plate 28 is mounted on the cylinder 24. The plunger assemblies are retained in the plunger assembly bores to move axially with the plunger advancing plate 28. The set screw 42 may be turned to establish the initial urging force exerted by the compression spring 41. As shown in FIG. 5, the plungers 37 are of different lengths corresponding to the pitch of the helical groove 26 in the cylinder 24. That is, the length of each plunger differs from that ofan adjacent plunger by an amount equal to the groove pitch divided by the number of trackways, and, therefore, of plungers.

The article receiving assembly 12 has as its main element a rotatable turret or turntable 46 (see FIG. 3), in which the nests, such as the nest 14 (FIG. 1), are located. A plurality of equiangularly spaced turret cam rolls such as that shown at 47 (FIG. 3), equal in number to the number of nests, project from the periphery of the turret 46. The turret cam rolls 47 are positioned to each contact a lifting finger lever 48 and pivot it about a pintle 49 as the turret 46 is rotated. A lifting finger support arm 55 projects from the lever 48 in a direction radially outward from the pintle 49. A lifting finger 51 is pivotally mounted on a pintle 53 at the end of the lifting finger support arm 55. The lifting finger extends through a space 50 in, the stationary frame 22 of the article dispensing mechanism 11. As the turret cam roll 47 pivots the lever 48 about the pintle 49 and then moves on past the lever, the lifting finger support arm 55 and the lifting finger 51 will first be raised in an upward arcuate direction and will then fall back in a downward arcuate direction, as viewed in FIG. 3.

The wheel plate 19 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) has equiangularly spaced about its periphery a plurality of wheel cam rolls, such as cam rolls 52 and 52'. The wheel cam rolls are equal in number to the number of trackways 17 in the rotary magazine 16. Upon each upward arcuate movement of the lifting finger 51, the finger will engage a wheel cam roll and displace it to rotate the rotary magazine 16 about the central axis 18 through the angular distance between adjacent. wheel cam rolls. A new trackway 17 is thereby indexed to move an end thereof to an exit opening or passageway E extending through the stationary support frame 22 at a receiving station, indicated generally by the reference letter R, from which the articles are to be successively dispensed. The receiving station R is located at a discharge end, that is, the end nearest the wheel 19, of the new trackway. The lifting finger 51 is mounted on the lifting finger support arm 55 so as to be free to pivot about the pintle 53 in a clockwise direction from the position shown in FIG. 3. Thus, as the arm 55 returns to its initial position, the finger 51 may pivot clockwise to clear the next wheel cam roll it is to drive. The lifting finger 51 is then urged back to the counterclockwise driving position shown in FIG. 3 by a return spring detent (not shown). A projection 56 from the finger 51 may be used as a stop, engaging a surface 57 on the arm 55 to prevent further counterclockwise rotation of the lifting finger. Each movement of the turret 46, bringing a new nest adjacent to the receiving station R, will operate the lifting finger 51 to index a new trackway to the exit opening E through the stationary support frame 22 at the receiving station R. The trackways will orbit about the central axis. 18.

' In the operation of the described embodiment, the magazine assembly 16 is initially assumed to be empty and the cam follower 31 to be located in the dwell portion 25 of the groove 26 with the plate 28 adjacent the wheel plate 19 at the forward end of the trackways. The cylinder 24 is first removed from the supporting axle 23 and the plate 28 by rotating the cylinder 24 to release the pin from the bayonet slot 15 and then sliding the cylinder off of the axle 23 with the dwell portion 25 of cam 26 easily sliding out from the bore 29 of the plate 28. The plunger advancing plate 28 may now be removed from the trackways 17 and the cylinder 24 may be replaced on the axle 23 with the pin 15 in the bayonet slot 15. Articles 13 are inserted into the trackways 17. The plunger advancing plate 28 is then inserted into the horizontal rotary magazine assembly 16 with each gap 33 between roller pairs 32 having an outer track positioned therein. In FIG. 2, for example, a pair of rollers 32 is located with one roller on each side of the outer track 17A, the track 17A filling the gap 33 therebetween. The plate 28 is slid forward onto the cylinder 24, with the cam follower 31 in the lead slot 25, until the follower enters the end of the groove 26. The plunger advancing plate 28 is retained in this position on the cylinder 24 by the locking plungers 30 and 30'. Certain of the plungers 37 (FIGS. 1 and 3) are now each in contact with an article 13 in an associated trackway. The contacted article is the one nearest the plunger or pusher end toward the annular rim 21, and most distant from the discharge or exit end, at the wheel plate 19, of each trackway passage. Compression in the plunger assembly springs 41 causes the plungers 37 to each transmit a force to the contacted article. Contact between adjacent articlestransmits the force toward the discharge end of each trackway 17. One of the trackway discharge ends is located adjacent the receiving station R. The apparatus is in condition to dispense articles to the exit opening E.

Rotation of the turret 46 of the article receiving mechanism 12 is initiated by any suitable rotating mechanism, such as an electric motor and a Geneva drive (not shown). An empty nest in the turret 46 is moved toward a position adjacent the receiving station R. The lifting finger lever 48 (FIG. 3) is thus pivoted about the pintle 49 by a turret cam roll such as the cam roll 47. The lifting finger support arm 55 is arced upwardly, as shown in FIG. 3, moving the lifting finger 51 to engage and move a wheel cam roll, such as the cam roll 52. Movement of the wheel cam roll rotates the wheel plate 19 about the central axis 18, indexing a new trackway 17 toward the exit opening E at the receiving station R.

As the wheel plate 19 is rotated, the rotary magazine 16 and the dispenser assembly 27 rotate together, the roller pairs 32 (see FIG. 2) on the plunger advancing plate 28 being driven by those outer tracks which are located in the gaps 33 between rollers. The cam follower 31 rides along and coacts with the walls of the stationary helical groove 26 to advance the plate 28 toward the wheel plate 19. The spring pressure in each plunger assembly, such as the assembly 36 (FIG. 6), increases as the spring 41 is compressed by the advance of the plate 28 and of the supporting sleeve 38 carried thereby. As the trackway 17 in which the plunger assembly 36 is located reaches the receiving station R and the associated exit opening B through the stationary frame 22, the plunger 37 is driven forward by the compressed spring 41 to dispense an article through the exit opening E from a position between the wheel spokes 195 at either side of the exit opening E. Upon being driven forward by the spring 41 to eject an article 13, the plunger 37 strikes the restriction 39 in the sleeve 38, attaining a momentary forwardmost position. (See FIGS. 9 and 10.) The entire column of articles 13 is thrust forward by the force of the spring 41, as the endmost article enters and is retained in a nest 14 in the article receiver 12. Subsequent rotation of the magazine 16 will advance the plunger 37 with the plate 28 until the forward end 37A of the plunger again contacts the nearest article 13 in the trackway 17. Continued contact will retain the plunger 37 in its new position as the plate 28 advances. Another article may be dispensed by the plunger when the trackway 17 again reaches the exit openin E through the frame 22 and the plunger again is thrust forward until it contacts the restriction 39 in the sleeve 38.

As the turret 46 continues to rotate, the indexing of the rotary magazine assembly 16 and the associated plunger advancing the plate 28 continues. The trackways are orbited about the central axis 18. Each trackway 17 is moved to the receiving station R, and an associated plunger dispenses a single article 13 through the exit opening E in the supporting member 22, delivering an article to a nest 14 (FIG. 1) adjacent to the receiving station. A new trackway 17 is then indexed to the receiving station to repeat the dispensing operation, dispensing a single article 13 to each nest 14 in the article receiving mechanism 12. The advance of the plate 28 continues to compress the plunger springs 41 to maintain or restore a dispensing force therein. As each final article 13 in a trackway 17 is ejected through the exit opening E by a plunger 37, the rounded forward end 37A (FIG. 6) thereof is positioned approximately coplanar with the bearing surface 225 adjacent the exit opening, due to the staggering of the lengths of the plungers 37. To the extent that any plunger 37 may slightly overextend this plane, the edge of the exit opening will cam the rounded end 37A to move the plunger 37 back into the sleeve 38 while slightly compressing the extended spring 41.

The operation continues until all the articles are dispensed from the trackways of the rotary magazine 16. The cam follower 31 (FIG. 2) is then again located in the nonhelical dwell portion 25 of the groove so that continued rotation of the magazine assembly 16 will not result in any further advance of the plunger advancing plate 28. The dispenser assembly 27 may now be removed and the magazine 16 reloaded with articles to permit further dispensing to occur. The simplicity of removal, by merely rotating the cylinder 24 in a clockwise direction to remove the pin 15 from the bayonet slot 15 and then removing the plate 28 from the magazine 16, permits fast and easy reloading of the rotary magazine 16.

It is to be understood that the above-described apparatus is simply illustrative of one embodiment of the invention. Many modifications may be made without departing from the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for feeding articles to a receiving station, which comprises:

a plurality of trackways arrayed parallel to one another and spaced equidistant from and about a common central axis for containing articles, each trackway being defined by a pair of radially spaced tracks and having a pusher end and a discharge end, said discharge ends defining a circle which passes through said receiving station;

means for contacting one of said articles in each of said trackways, said contacted article being the article located nearest to said pusher end, and for pushing the article toward said discharge end, a pushing force being transmitted between adjacent ones of said articles by contact between said adjacent articles in each trackway:

a plate means mounting said contacting and pushing means thereon, said plate means having a plurality of pairs of rollers spaced thereabout with each roller separated from a paired roller by a gap for spanning one of said tracks;

means for orbiting said trackways about said common central axis to move each discharge end successively to said receiving station as an article is dispensed therefrom under influence of said pushing force;

a cylinder mounted along said central axis and fixed against rotation, said cylinder having a helical groove of predetermined pitch cut into its surface and extending axially therealong; and

a cam follower mounted on said plate means and positioned to engage said helical groove when said plate means is mounted with said tracks in said gaps between rollers, the follower riding along said helical groove and displacing said plate axially as said trackways are orbited and said tracks rotate said plate means.

2. Apparatus for feeding articles to a receiving station, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said contacting and pushing means comprise:

a plurality of plunger sleeves mounted on said plate means, each sleeve being axially aligned with a different one of said trackways;

a plunger in each of said sleeves and extending forwardly therefrom toward the axially aligned trackway, each plunger having a length differing from the length of an adjacent plunger by an amount equal to said predetermined pitch of the helical groove divided by the number of trackways, and the plungers being arrayed with their lengths corresponding to the periphery of the helical groove; and

a spring in each plunger sleeve biasing the plunger therein forwarly toward the axially aligned trackway.

3. In a magazine apparatus for dispensing articles,

a support frame having a flat bearing surface,

an axle projecting from said flat surface of said frame,

a Wheel having a hub rotatably mounted on said axle and a plurality of radiating rim section, pairs of tracks spaced about said axle, one track of each pair being supported by the rim section and the other track being supported by the hub,

means for urging stacks of articles along said pairs of tracks and between said spokes to engage said flat bearing surface,

a cylinder secured to said axle and groove formed therealong, A

a plate rotatably and axially slida-bly mounted on said cylinder for supporting said urging means, I

a follower extending from said plate into said helical groove,

means for rotating said'wheel, said pairs of tracks and said plate about said cylinder to advance said plate axially along said cylinder to move said urging means against the articles on said tracks, and

said support frame having an exit opening positioned in alignment with the path of movement of said tracks for dispensing said articles therethrough.

having a helical References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS spokes connected to 1,678,337 7/1928 Halifax 221-279 X 2,198,168 4/1940 Harris 221113 2,915,219 12/1959 Salerno 221-113 3,018,020 l/l962 Lancaster 221113 X 3,036,732 5/1962 Schaef 221-1'13 FOREIGN PATENTS 432,549 7/1935 Great Britain.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner. 

